STANDOUT PERFORMERS

• Becht – 21 points (7-14 FG, 3-8 3-FG, 4-5 FT), 5 rebounds
• Guillory – 14 points (7-17 FG), career-high-tying 12 rebounds, 2 blocks
• Sophomore Ethan Okwuosa (No. Haven, Conn.) – 11 points (5-15 FG, 1-5 3-FG), 4 rebounds, 2 assists
• Graduate student Ryan Layman (Wrentham, Mass.) – 9 points (3-7 FG, 1-2 3-FG, 2-2 FT), career-high 14 rebounds, 2 assists

KEY MOMENTS

• Southern New Hampshire led, 9-8, with a little more than 11-and-a-half minutes to play in the opening stanza when Franklin Pierce used a 9-2 run to grab its largest lead of the game at 17-11 with 9:54 to go. The Penmen responded by closing the half with a 17-5 burst that sent them to the locker room with a 28-22 advantage. Becht paced the Penmen with seven points, while Guillory and Okwuosa each added four.
• Franklin Pierce was within three at 33-30 more than four minutes into the second half when a 10-2 burst – powered by a pair of Becht 3-pointers – gave SNHU its largest lead of the contest at 43-32 with 12:06 left. The lead was nine less than five minutes later when a 9-2 stretch trimmed the Ravens' deficit to a pair at 52-50 with 3:58 on the clock.
• That was as close as they would get, as the Penmen would score six of the final seven points, including the first four from Layman, to seal it.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Sophomore Derrick Grant (Plainfield, N.J.) registered two points (1-2 FG) and five boards.
• Southern New Hampshire outshot Franklin Pierce, 40.4 percent (23-57) to 37 percent (20-54), while FPU returned the favor from deep, 33.3 percent (8-24) to 29.4 percent (5-17).
• Franklin Pierce shot it better at the line in limited trips, 75 percent (3-4) to 63.6 percent (7-11).
• The Penmen won the glass (42-27) and the paint (22-20) and scored more second chance points (18-10), while the Ravens scored more points off turnovers (13-12), received more scoring from their bench (9-2) and featured a better assist-to-turnover ratio (12/11-6/12).

NOTES

• Southern New Hampshire, which is receiving votes in the latest National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Coaches Poll, has won 17 of its last 21, 16 of its last 17 and 10-in-a-row.
• The Penmen improve to 22-15 (.595) all-time in the NE10 Championship, including 9-4 in the quarterfinal round and 2-0 against Franklin Pierce. SNHU advances to its ninth semifinal and first since 2017.
• Southern New Hampshire will play host to the fourth-seeded University of New Haven in the semifinals Wednesday, March 1 (7 p.m.). The Penmen defeated the Chargers, 80-52, at home Jan. 10. SNHU, which is 5-3 in the semifinal round, is 1-0 all-time against UNH in the NE10 postseason, scoring a 79-75 overtime victory at New Haven in the 2012-13 quarterfinals.
• The Penmen win 20 games in a season for the first time in the Jack Perri-era and first time as a program since the 2016-17 campaign.
• SNHU leads the all-time series with Franklin Pierce, 73-30, and has won three straight. The Penmen have also won seven of their last eight at home against the Ravens. The only previous NE10 postseason meeting was an 85-74 victory in the 2013 title game for Southern New Hampshire in Rindge.
• Guillory has put together a nine-game, double-digit scoring streak (17.7 ppg).

WHAT'S NEXT

• The top-seeded Penmen will play host to an NE10 Championship semifinal game against the fourth-seeded University of New Haven on Wednesday, March 1 (7 p.m.) at the Stan Spirou Field House. The game will air live on WGIR 610-AM and Fox Sports New Hampshire 930-AM.